Online Learning

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Learning: Is It the Right Choice for
You?
We hear about the success stories of online education from many resources: news
media, editorials, online school publicity, and postings of students themselves. A college
degree or advanced degree was once only a dream for full-time employees, family-
oriented career professionals, single mothers, and students in remote areas is now a
reality. It’s a popular new form of schooling that offers many advantages. But it’s not for
everyone; potential students should be aware of both sides of the coin so they can
make informed an informed decision about whether an online class or degree is right for
them.
At times, what is an advantage for one student is a disadvantage for another. For
example, since online students interact with each other and with the instructor via the
internet, it is essential that they have solid computer and internet skills. Those who do
not have these skills will have to put in extra hours working either on their own or with
the program’s technical support staff to come up to the skill level required. Those who
already are knowledgeable won’t see this as a disadvantage and, in either case, the
student will develop increased internet ability and computer familiarity that will pay off
later in the job market.
In this paper, advantages and disadvantages are given in a numbered list form so that
readers can easily peruse the topics.
Advantages of Online Education
Following is a listing of many of the benefits of online learning:
1. Retaining your job while attending school. Potential students who are full-time
employees have been reluctant to attend college or graduate school because of lost
earnings and lost seniority. With online learning, they can do both.
2. Spending time with family while learning. The potential for disrupting family life has
kept some potential students from commitment to a campus-based degree program.
Online classes offer a solution because many classes can be taken at any time, after
the children are asleep or while they are working on their own assignments. Spousal
support may also be a consideration.
3. Online interactive classes tend to adopt new concepts and changes more quickly.
Whereas it may take years for a traditional class to change and even a new text
adopted, online courses can change very quickly, an advantage for students whose
course of study is currently evolving as quickly as it is learned. New findings from
anywhere in the world can be brought in quickly and easily.
4. Student interaction is increased. Unless a student in a traditional class has time to
chat with other students in a student area or nearby coffee shop, he or she may never
really get to network outside of class. In an interactive class, these students may share
their views and ask questions of other learners all around the globe. And these other
learners may prove to be valuable contacts outside of school. The very act of
exchanging information in this manner may be relevant at work later on, giving students
a level of comfort with such exchanges.
5. Faculty are more likely to be known experts in their fields. Perhaps you have heard of
a leading researcher in another country whose class you could only dream of attending.
With the facility of online learning, you can study with such experts who are giving an
online course anywhere in the world.
6. Learning at your own pace. Whether you are an average, fast, or slow learner, you
can work at your own pace when you take an online class. If English is your second
language, you have the opportunity to review the material more than once to be certain
you understood everything. If you learn very quickly and are normally bored waiting for
other students to catch up, you are now free to move as quickly as you like. Classes are
usually open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some schools will allow you to complete a
typical 2-year MBA program, for example, in less time if you double up in classes.
7. You can more likely handle personal and business emergencies without having to
drop a class. When something happens that requires extra time of you, you may have
had to drop a class if you were attending a class at a college campus. Online learning
offers more flexibility because you can log on any time of the day or night. Because
most classes require an 8-12 hour commitment per week, this offers quite a bit of
flexibility in a pinch.
8. Completion of some online programs is based on demonstration of your
competence in an area rather than on classes taken. These schools offer a
personalized approach because students earn credits by demonstrating their
competence via an assessment. For example, someone who is self-taught in a
programming language and can pass the final exam for that course will receive credit
for it.
9. Physically handicapped students benefit from the advantages of college courses
without the disadvantages of making their way across the campus and in and out of
buildings.
10. Ageism is unlikely to exist. Other students do not know your age and are not likely to
think of you as too old or too young to be knowledgeable.
11. Money is saved that would otherwise be spent on gas, parking, lodging, and meals.
You can meet online with experts and students worldwide without leaving your home or
office to attend class physically.
12. You save time on lecture notes and organizing your materials. Instead, you have the
opportunity to concentrate on the material online and to find what you need without
running errands physically. E-mail takes the place of traveling to meet with other
students.
13. If you are a supervisor or manager, you are able to learn online without having to
miss days of work and depend on others to cover for you. Because of the advantages of
distance learning, you may be more at ease while you study and not have to worry
about what is happening back at the office. In addition, your superiors can see that you
can handle your tasks and, by taking the course(s), can prepare yourself for
advancement and more responsibility at the same time.
14. Potentially an easy way to take the additional classes or get the certification needed
for on-the-job advancement. Working professionals are often torn between taking time
from work and other priorities in order to attend a campus-based course or enroll in a
program. Although employers want to see members of the workforce show initiative by
enhancing their knowledge, they may also want to see them on the job, keeping abreast
of company initiatives. Virtual learning provides a solution because individuals can
remain on the job and obtain certification or degrees at the same time. Both are
winners.
15. No residency requirements for most online schools. Whereas students formerly had
to obtain residence in a state prior to attending a state school or pay high non-resident
fees, this is usually not required with online schools although a visit to the campus for a
personal conference may be required for some degree programs at some online
schools.
16. Financial aid is also available to online students.
17. Online classes may be more equitable, ensuring that all students are treated
equally. If a student believes he or she is not often called on or his or her input not
valued because of personal appearance or a speech impediment, virtual learning is the
great equalizer.
18. Geographic and socioeconomic disadvantages are minimized. Students in rural
areas can take classes online, as long as they can get to a computer with internet
access. Likewise, with financial aid and scholarships available through online colleges
and travel and lodging expenses eliminated, classes and degree programs are within
the reach of more of the population.
19. Students’ research and writing capabilities improve quickly, according to Dr. Jerry
Ice and Dr. Paul Edelson, authors of the “Complete Book of Distance Learning
Schools.” This advantage should carry over to the workplace, helping the student to
perform well.
20. Also, according to Drs. Ice and Edelson, students’ participation in classes increases.
21. One advantage of the online approach is the written record of class contributions by
teacher(s) and students. This information is available for student and teacher review,
not lost forever due to faulty note taking during a traditional lecture. (Drs. Ice and
Edelson)
22. Guests can be included easily, giving students the opportunity to learn from and
interact with experts they may never have a chance to learn from otherwise.
23. Excellent training for the work world. The types of interaction and projects that
students participate in often model closely the work world. Online students who become
comfortable with this type of interaction may adapt more quickly to a business
environment.
Disadvantages of Online Education
Disadvantages of virtual learning are listed below:
1. You must be able to organize your time and to do the work of the course. If you
typically depend on class peers to motivate you, online education may be tough for you
because are, in some ways, on your own.
2. Do you thrive on personal attention? If you enjoy listening to teachers and other
students, the more visual style required for online learning may not work for you.
3. If eye contact with the teacher and with other students is necessary in order for you to
keep your focus, virtual learning a regular classroom may be the better choice for you.
Or, try an online class that is not a critical one for you and see whether you adapt well to
the online learning environment.
4. If you know that your appearance, voice, or style of interaction has helped you win in
the past, online learning may nullify these advantages, leaving you with a learning curve
to succeed.
5. To make online education or virtual learning as easy as possible, a student must be
comfortable using a computer and the internet. Someone who has to master these skills
will likely experience a learning curve and have to work doubly hard at first to keep up
with the class and assignments.
6. Those who prefer to listen only in lectures and class will find that online learning
requires a record of their participation. Silently following along no longer works; each
student is expected to make an online contribution and, possibly, to participate in team
or group projects with others. Active learning is the key to success in online education.

What do we mean by Computer Aided Assessment?
Computer Aided Assessment (CAA) covers a range of assessment procedures and is a
rapidly developing area as new technologies are harnessed. In essence, CAA refers to
any instance in which some aspect of computer technology is deployed as part of the
assessment process. Some of the principle examples of CAA in language learning are:
 Interactive exercises and tests completed on a computer: see Section 2.1
 Use of computers to produce coursework, e.g. using a word-processor
 On-screen marking of students' word-processed writing: see Section 3
 Using a spreadsheet or database to keep a record of students' marks:
see Section 4.2
 Use of email to send coursework to students and (for students) to receive
marks and feedback: see Section 14, Module 1.5, headed Computer Mediated
Communication (CMC).
 Use of Web pages to set tasks for students and to provide tutor support:
see Module 1.5 and Module 2.3
 Use of plagiarism detection software: see Section 7
1.3 Which skills can be assessed?
Skill Assessment by computer Assessment of electronic output by
human being
Listening Computer can assess a limited range of
different types of responses to test
comprehension.
Listening tests can be presented on a
computer, students' answers can be stored
electronically and assessed by a teacher.
Self-assessment and peer assessment are
also possible.
Speaking Very limited as yet. Automatic Speech
Recognition (ASR) software is developing
rapidly but it is still too unreliable to be used
in accurate testing.
Students can record their own voices on a
computer for assessment by a teacher.
Self-assessment and peer assessment are
also possible.
Reading Computer can assess a limited range of
different types of responses to test
comprehension.
Reading tests can be presented on a
computer, students' answers can be stored
electronically and assessed by a teacher.
Self-assessment and peer assessment are
also possible.
Writing Very limited as yet, but spellchecking,
grammar checking and style checking are
possible, and some progress is being made
in the development of programs that can
assess continuous text.
Students' answers can be stored
electronically and assessed by a teacher.
Self-assessment and peer assessment are
also possible.
1.4 Exercise or test?
Computer-based exercises and tests often take the same kind of format. The essential
difference between an exercise and a test is the purpose to which it is put. An exercise
usually offers instant feedbackto the learner and an opportunity to correct any errors
that are made, whereas a test may offer little feedback to the learner apart from a raw
score at the end of the test, or no feedback at all, e.g. where the results of the test
might be stored for analysis by a teacher or examination body. Exercises are usually
designed to offer the learner practice in specific areas and to motivate and encourage,
whereas tests are usually designed to assess the learner's progress in specific areas,
i.e. for self-assessment purposes, for the teacher or for an examination body. But
sometimes these distinctions become blurred. The main kinds of tests include:
 Placement tests: These are designed mainly to sort students into teaching
groups so that they are approximately at the same level when they join the
group. Placement tests may take the form ofadaptive tests (see below).
 Diagnostic tests: These are designed to enable the learner or teacher to
identify specific strengths and weaknesses so that remedial action can be take.
See Section 2.2.1 on DIALANG. Diagnostic tests may take the form of adaptive
tests (see below).
 Adaptive tests: See Section 2.3 on WebCAPE.
 Achievement / attainment tests: These are usually more formal, designed to
show mastery of a particular syllabus rather than as a means of motivating the
learner or reinforcing specific language skills.
 Proficiency tests: These are designed to measure learner's achievements in
relation to a specific task which they are later required to perform, e.g. follow
a university course delivered in language other than their mother tongue.
Proficiency tests do not normally take account of any particular syllabus that
has been followed. The driving test is a typical example of a proficiency test,
i.e. it assesses whether you are competent to be in control of a car on public
highways.
 Aptitude tests: Such tests aim to predict how a student might perform in a
specific subject or specific areas of a subject. See Section 6.

2. Types of Computer Aided Assessment and the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages
2.1 Interactive exercises and tests
When reading this section bear in mind the distinction that was made earlier
between exercises and tests. See Section 1.4, headed Exericise or test?
2.1.1 The feedback loop
2.3 Adaptive testing: WebCAPE
Adaptive tests aim to assess language competence by asking questions based on the
student's response to previous ones. If the student gets the answer right, a harder
question is asked and vice-versa.

Figure 3: Screenshot, WebCAPE

3. Using a word-processor for marking and giving feedback

Figure 5: Microsoft Word screenshot, showing teacher's corrections and a comment
The teacher can then return the work electronically to the student. The process does
not end there, for there is now an incentive for the student to consider and accept the
teacher's comments and then print a final, error-free product (Figure 6).
3.3 Marking software
As an alternative to using word-processing to mark students' work, there is specialist
software that offers additional facilities, such
Figure 7: Screenshot from Markin
3.6 Further Reading
See Bishop (2004). Graham Bishop covers the use of the following tools that are
available in Microsoft Word:
 Superscript
 Insert comment
 Footnotes and subscript
 Tracking
 Ticking
 Underlining, double underlining and highlighting
 Spell check
 Word count
 Synonyms and thesaurus
 Using color

4. Reporting and recording students' progress
4.1 Report Writing
4.1.1 Factors to take into account
What is ethically acceptable?
What will be possible within an overall school policy?
What does the technology offer?
There are a number of facilities built into standard word-processing packages that can
be exploited for report writing. These include:
i. Autotext: this is described in Section 3.5. It is simply a method of speeding up
the typing of comments that are used frequently by replacing the full
comment with a code.
ii. Comment banks: this is simply a file containing lots of comments from which
to choose or
iii. Forms and templates: these allow you to make a standard document that can
be completed for each individual student. A template is just a document that
has some pre-entered text and formatting, e.g. a report card. The teacher can
simply open a new version of the document and then edit at will. 4.2 Recording
Progress
4.2.1 Whole class records
Using a spreadsheet as an electronic mark book enables you to:
 record marks (in different skill areas)
 record comments
 record attendance
 generate class lists
 organise your records
 add up marks and do percentages, averages, etc

5. Using the Web to manage assessment
Increasingly, modern languages departments have their own website or section at their
school or college site. To what extent can a website be used to manage the assessment
of language students? For example:
i. The website can be used to provide students (and parents) with information
about the syllabuses of courses, their aims, and the criteria for achieving their
aims.
ii. The website can be used to provide information about examinations, such as
contents of papers, grade criteria, tasks, sample questions.
iii. Various items can be made available as downloadable files, such as revision
guides, vocabulary lists and sets of questions for oral examination topics.
iv. Links to websites that may be useful in the revision process can be listed, e.g.
links to sites offering interactive exercises and tests appropriate to a particular
examination..
v. Model answers can be posted on the website, for example model
compositions for the GCSE writing examination.
vi. If a website is available with student access via individual passwords, the site
itself can be used by students to upload completed tasks and to download
work that their teacher has marked.

6. Modern Language Aptitude Testing (MLAT)
It takes many hours of study and practice to acquire a reasonable level of proficiency
in a foreign language. This represents a substantial investment for any organisation
considering the selection of people for language training. It would therefore be useful
to predict with reasonable accuracy to what extent an individual who had never
studied a language before would benefit from attending a language course.
Success in learning a foreign language depends on a number of basic aptitudes, for
example:
i. auditory
ii. linguistic
iii. memory
7. Plagiarism: detection, deterrence and avoidance


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